In the past decade or so, paper crafts in general and scrapbooking in particular has become an extremely popular pastime in the United States. And scrapbooks have developed from simple depositories of photographs and other generally flat memorabilia to works of art in and of themselves.
Scrapbook pages are often comprised of fancy printed or textured paper on to which additional pieces of paper are adhesively or otherwise secured. The additional pieces can include mats for photographs pictures or other documents, accent lines, folded paper creations, booklets, lettering and die cut elements to name a few. Further, the base pages and ancillary papers can be folded and/or embossed to give the papers a more three dimensional appearance.
Scrapbooking has become big business with numerous stores in existence across the nation devoted primarily to selling scrapbooking materials and supplies. Classes are also available in most communities to teach the art of scrapbooking. Contests are held on the internet and through other venues awarding participants for the best original scrapbook pages. Numerous kits are available for purchase that provide all the fancy paper and instructions to make scrapbook pages of a particular design and configuration. Further, tools and other materials, such as but not limited to cutting devices, rulers, cutting boards and scoring tools, are marketed directly to scrapbookers.
Producing ornate scrapbook pages often requires a significant amount of layout measuring, scoring, folding and cutting. Depending on the page, a single error can appreciably detract from the visual appeal of a page and in certain circumstances, if the error relates to a critical feature or element, an entire page can be ruined.
Of the operations involved in producing a page, measuring often causes the greatest deal of aggravation and frustration. As a scrapbooker lays-out a page more quickly, the risk of making a measuring error increases substantially. Conversely, slowing down to double check and carefully verify each and every measurement can test the patience of many scrapbookers. The tools marketed to scrapbookers are typically those previously developed for other endeavors or other crafts. There are very few tools available that have been designed or created with the intent of facilitating both increased measuring accuracy and efficiency in the creation of ornate scrapbook pages.